Speaking about the banking crisis and the collapse of the Lehman Brothers in 2008, she said she believes women tend to have an acute sense of risk.

While she admitted she was cautious of over-generalising, she thought that the risk-taking profile of women was empirically demonstrated as being different to that of men - which could have altered the crisis.

She said that if women ruled the world it would be better balanced, there would be more peace, and health and education would become higher priorities

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